Today, audio and/or video conferencing is possible over packet-switched data networks, in addition to traditional circuit-switched phone networks. In many cases, the packet-switched data network is an Internet Protocol (IP)-based packet-switched data network (“IP network”) such as, for example, the Internet.
In some cases, conferencing is facilitated by a cloud phone system provider. A cloud phone system provider is a business or other organizational entity that provides a hosted phone system on a private or public server system. The hosted phone system is typically implemented in software executing on one or more server computers and provided over an IP network such as the Internet.
One challenge facing cloud phone system providers facilitating audio and/or video conferencing is the computing resources required of the hosted phone system to relay the media data between the endpoint communications devices participating in the conferences. Such relaying may include performing the computationally intensive functions of media data stream mixing and transcoding. Because of the computationally intensive nature of relaying media data, a cloud phone system provider may need to outlay significant capital expenditures on extra server computers, data center resources, and network bandwidth in order to support multiple concurrent electronic audio and/or video conferences with a quality of service level that is acceptable to users.
Given the extra computing resources required of a hosted phone system to adequately support the relaying of conferencing media data, cloud phone system providers would appreciate a solution for facilitating audio and/or video conferences that reduces their burden mixing and transcoding conference media data. The present disclosure provides a solution to this and other needs.